by Evan Pattak, for The Meadows

Meadow Lands, PA — Timelesswinner Two rocketed to the lead and didn’t stop until she had trotted to a stakes record 1:54.4 in an elimination of the $168,215 Currier & Ives for 3-year-old fillies on Monday (June 8) at The Meadows. SJ’s Minolta, sporting hopples for the first time, captured the other elimination. The final, worth approximately $100,000, is set for next Monday, June 15.

Timelesswinner Two set a stakes record with a 1:54.4 score in her Currier & Ives filly elimination.

Making her second start after a respectable fifth-place finish in the 2008 Breeders Crown, Timelesswinner Two was well tuned for the effort by trainer Julie Miller. Dave Palone gunned her through a front half of :57.4 and a back half of :57, all of which produced a 13 length romp over Nordic Nymph, with Broadway Paige third. Those three, along with fourth-place finisher Virgilyn Hanover, qualified for the final.

The mile shaved two ticks from the previous Currier & Ives mark established by TS Fastforward in 2007 and was the fastest this year by a sophomore trotting filly on a five-eighths-mile track.

“She’s an impressive filly, a gritty filly,” Palone said. “The word from headquarters was to race her up close. Julie gave her a great prep — one race over the track with a conservative effort. We stretched her out a little bit tonight, and she was well within herself finishing.”

Rodney Mitchell Inc. and Freida Ivory own Timelesswinner Two, a daughter of Broadway Hall-Meadowbranch Lilly who pushed her career bankroll to $115,138.

SJ’s Minolta, a stakes winner despite her ongoing battles with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), an often debilitating disease of the central nervous system, made the front with a quarter-pole move for trainer/driver David Wade.

Chris Gooden photos

SJ’s Minolta was piloted to a 1:55.4 triumph by trainer David Wade.

“She left quietly, which was good, and things got settled,” Wade said. “As fast as they were going, the pace wasn’t suiting her. She’d have been all right in there — I could have stayed in — but I thought it would be a beautiful time to get to the front and let them catch me.

“The hopples are giving her confidence. She trotted through the turns much better. That’s been her difficulty.”

SJ’s Minolta prevailed in 1:55.4, a length better than Allamerican Phoebe, with Caviar Forthe Lady third. The 1-2 favorite, Whispering Wind, endured a rough trip but finished fourth to qualify for the final. Wade owns SJ’s Minolta, a daughter of S J’s Photo-TJ’s Royal Tigress, with Gerald Brittingham and Kelley Rogers.

Currier & Ives Notes: Eliminations for the open division of the Currier & Ives will go on Monday, June 22, with the final set for the following Monday…In the $27,500 Filly & Mare Preferred Handicap Pace, Natalie was used to get early position, used again to make the front at the quarter pole and called on once more to pass Osborne’s Gypsy in the “Lightning Lane.” She did just that for Mike Wilder, equaling her career best of 1:51.3. Kevin McDermott trains the 4-year-old daughter of Jenna’s Beach Boy-Armbro Redwood for Fran Azur…Palone drove five winners on the 16-race card.